


Detention

by Pinetasticapple



Series: NaNoWriMo warm ups [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, I guess? I don't know if the tag is correct, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 14:30:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12278460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinetasticapple/pseuds/Pinetasticapple
Summary: All Lance hoped to do that evening was to spend it playing videogames with his friend, not getting detention for a chivalry act.





	Detention

**Author's Note:**

> Boy I need to learn how to write for Voltron.

Lance looked at the clock and read ‘3:46’ and promptly wanted to slam his head against the desk in desperation. Fourteen minutes more and he would finally be free of this misery.

The only sound he heard was the tick-tock of the clock right on top of the whiteboard and the occasional shuffle of papers every two minutes from the teacher supposedly making sure he would be quiet. He could tell because he had counted each and every second between page flip. If someone asked him what torture was like, he would point at his situation.

And it wasn’t that Lance had wanted to land himself into detention, oh no, he did not have that in his plans for a Friday afternoon, where he could be instead playing videogames at Hunk’s place with a large pepperoni pizza with half having jalapeño pepper, yet there he was, waiting for the clock’s small hand to reach the number four so he could get out of the punishment of ‘no talking, no music, no sleeping’ that he had to face, all because he had tried to do the right thing.

That’s right, he sighed when the teacher flipped yet another page of whatever magazine she was reading, Lance had tried to do the right thing for someone else and got him punished in result. He’s not sure that part was taught when his mother told him to always try to do the right thing.

You see, Lance had just finished classes for the day, stuff packed, homework highlighted so he wouldn’t forget about it during the weekend, keys for his bike lock already in hand and thinking whether to challenge Hunk in classic Smash Bros or maybe Halo when he heard commotion growing behind him.

And sure thing when he looked back he could see other students gathering around two guys, one tall and probably of last year, the other, Lance wasn’t surprised, was Keith Kogane.

Of all people in the school, it had to be Keith the one starting a fight.

Lance remembered Keith, the new kid that had arrived just two weeks ago and from day one had given the aura of ‘don’t even come close to me’ and hey, Lance was not going to touch that with a ten foot pole.

In the few classes they shared Lance noticed that Keith not only preferred to be on the far end of the room without anyone approaching, he was incredibly smart. And he had seen his share of incredibly smart people, like Hunk with physics and anything involving the inner mechanism of an engine or Pidge when it came to dismantle and redesign computers with better memory or definition or things Lance would just nod in agreement. Keith wasn’t an exception, Lance thought when Keith almost effortlessly answered history questions, dates Lance couldn’t even remember past the month, or when he would deliver a very well written essay with the teacher impressed at such level of analysing; point was Lance knew Keith wasn’t just the cliché of a bad boy –Lance could hear his mother scolding him for pulling out conclusions of people without knowing them- Keith was just someone who minded his own business and occasionally would be reading either Vonnegut and the next day bring a tattered copy of ‘Good Omens’ with highlighted parts and doggy ears on some pages.

But back to why Lance had ended in detention, that happened when some tall guy Lance didn’t know was yelling at Keith who merely ignored the yelling and kept on his business of retrieving his bag.

Lance caught some words like ‘my sitting spot’ and ‘know your place’ and he had to believe Keith had probably taken the senior’s seat in a classroom or something like it. He didn’t even know Keith had a car, not that he would take notice into that, but the moment he saw the guy raising a fist with Keith still not looking, well, he did the first thing that came to his mind.

Which was of course, tackle the guy to the ground before he would punch his classmate.

The first thing he registered was the pain on his elbows from landing on tile floor, followed by a sting on his chin from not landing correctly. The third thing was more painful as it was the guy he had tackled jabbing him on the ribs with a frustrated snarl.

“What is going on here?” he heard the principal’s voice looming above them, and suddenly he was being pulled back by the neck of his shirt “McClain, Zimmer, to my office right now.”

Lance didn’t even get a chance to explain there, or to look at Keith who had just turned for a moment and then disappeared among the crowd of nosy students. And that is how he ended in the principal’s office trying to excuse that he had stopped another fight by apparently starting a fight and ending up in the detention room for one hour, with yet another detention waiting for him at home because his mother would know, oh she would definitely know. He could already tell he was going to spend the rest of the evening killing weeds of her garden.

He looked up at the clock and smiled when it read ‘3:59’, so close to his freedom he wanted to jump out of his seat. Any second he would hear those magical words…

“Alright, get out of here Lance” the teacher closed her magazine “and try not to get in trouble next time.”

He grabbed his bag pack and waved adieu, the moment the door closed behind he ran out of the now empty school and towards the probably only bicycle left on the rack. But Lance had to stop on his tracks when, right next to his bike, none other than Keith was leaning against the metal tube.

Lance blinked but did the first thing that came to his mind, again.

“Hey,” he squawked.

Keith didn’t say anything, instead looking at him with such intensity Lance thought the guy was trying to read his mind, or steal his money, or both.

“Uh…I’m just gonna, ah” he tried to walk to his bike so he could unlock it and go home, when Keith spoke.

“Why did you do that?”

Lance looked at him so fast he thought he got his neck whiplashed.

“I, what?”

Keith frowned, apparently not happy with having to repeat himself and looked at Lance with even more intensity “why did you tackle that guy?”

“Oh…well you know” Lance looked at him and damn were those eyes dark, Lance was really appreciating them despite the intense stare “he was going to hit you man.”

That wasn’t the answer Keith was probably looking for, so Lance tried to elaborate “I mean, I saw him ready to punch you and you weren’t paying attention, you could have got pretty hurt.”

“Why?”

“No mueles…” Lance muttered, Keith’s expression making him sigh “you seriously asked that?”

“We haven’t talked for you to go defend me.”

“Well you aren’t the easiest guy to talk to,” Lance winced when he saw Keith’s expression turning, just for a moment, a little sad before it returned to the serious ‘I ate a lemon and I am too proud to admit I hated it’.

“Let me rewind on that” Lance said “I would have done it for anyone else, ok? Besides, it’s not as if you were looking for a fight.”

Keith hummed again and Lance felt a little relief from getting a correct answer, his bike finally unlocked and ready to be used to go home.

“I’m Lance by the way” he added.

“Keith”

Lance ignored the ‘I already knew’ part of the conversation and offered a smile.

“Well Keith, this has been fun but I must go home now.”

“Oh, right,” Keith looked to the street and Lance noted some of that same small sadness from a moment ago “it’s late.”

Days later Lance would remember that Friday as the day he did plenty of things without thinking first, because next thing he knew he poked Keith’s shoulder to catch his attention and smiled.

“If you don’t have anything to do you can come over? I mean, vouch for me in front of my mom for defending your honour?”

To his surprise Keith let out a snort and Lance in that moment knew he had to make that happen more often.

“Sure, I can do that.”

Lance pushed his bike between him and Keith as he showed the way to his house, “so, not to sound like a creep but Good Omens?”

“Have you read it?”

“Just once last year, I’d have to reread it to remember most of it but what is what you like about it?”

Lance smiled when Keith started to explain his favourite parts of the book. His elbows were a little bruised and his mother wasn’t that happy when he arrived home, even when she softened just for a moment in front of Keith because he looked like such a polite kid, but he was happy that he tackled that guy because turned out Keith was not only incredibly smart and quiet, but a good friend to talk with. Maybe detention hadn’t been that bad to face after all.


End file.
